Leland Stanford

Leland Stanford

Stanford, Leland, 1824-93, American railroad builder, politician, and philanthropist, b. Watervliet, N.Y. After practicing law in Wisconsin, he went (1852) to California, where he became a successful merchant. He served as governor (1861-63) of California and was one of the four founders of the Central Pacific RR. He was its president until his death, and he personally served as superintendent during part of its construction. He was also president (1885-90) of the Southern Pacific RR. From 1885 to his death he was a U.S. Senator. He founded and endowed Stanford Univ. as a memorial to his son, Leland Stanford, Jr. His wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford, 1825-1905, b. Albany, N.Y., shared in founding the university and continued to aid it after her husband's death.

Businesses

In 1852, having lost his law library and other property by fire, he moved to California during the California Gold Rush and began mining for gold at Michigan Bluff in Placer County, California. He subsequently went into business with his three brothers, who had preceded him to the Pacific coast. During this time he worked with his brothers as keeper of a general store for miners, served as a Justice of the Peace and helped organize the Sacramento Library Association, which later became the Sacramento Public Library. In 1856 he moved to San Francisco and engaged in mercantile pursuits on a large scale.

As president of the Central Pacific, he directed its construction over the mountains, building 530 miles in 293 days. As head of the railroad company which built the first transcontinental railway line over the Sierra Nevada, Stanford hammered in the famous golden spike in Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869. In 1870, the Central Pacific Railroad acquired the Southern Pacific Railroad, forming one of the most powerful railroad monopolies in history.

In 1871, Stanford began experimenting with winemaking, leading to his establishment of his 'Vina' winery.

In 1872 Stanford commissioned Eadweard Muybridge to use newly invented photographic technology to establish whether a galloping horse ever has all four feet off the ground simultaneously, which they do. This project, which illustrated motion through a series of still images viewed together, was a forerunner of motion picture technology.

Stanford served as president of Southern Pacific Railroad from 1885 to 1890, while continuing to serve as the head of the Central Pacific Railroad until his death in 1893. As a railroad developer, Stanford encouraged Chineseimmigration to find workers for the railroad construction. However, when jobs were scarce, Stanford made them scapegoats. Stanford encouraged the California legislature to pass taxes and unfair regulations which specifically targeted Chinese.

He also owned two wineries, the Leland Stanford Winery, founded in 1869, and run by brother Josiah, and the 55,000 acres (220 km²) Great Vina farm in Tehama County, containing what was then the largest vineyard in the world at 13,400 acres (54 km²), the Gridley tract of 22,000 acres (90 km²) in Butte County and the Palo Alto Stock Farm, which was the home of his famous thoroughbred racers, Electioneer, Anon, Sunol, Palo Alto and Advertiser. The Palo Alto breeding farm gave Stanford University its nickname of The Farm. The Stanfords also owned a stately mansion in Sacramento, California (this was the birthplace of their only son, and now a house museum used for California state social occasions), as well as a home in San Francisco's Nob Hill district. Their Sacramento home is now the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park.

Politics

Stanford, a leading member of the Republican Party, was politically active. In 1856, he met with other Whig politicians in Sacramento to organize the California Republican Party at its first state convention on April 30. He was chosen as a delegate to the Republican Party convention which selected US presidential electors in both 1856 and 1860. In the interim, he became the majority stockholder in Amador Quartz Mine. Stanford was defeated in his 1857 bid for California State Treasurer, and his 1859 bid for the office of Governor of California.

He was the eighth Governor of California, serving from December 1861 to December 1863, and the first Republican governor. During his gubernatorial tenure, he cut the state's debt in half, and advocated for the conservation of forests. He also oversaw the establishment of the California's first state normal school in San José, later to become San José State University. Following Stanford's governorship, the term of office changed from two years to four years, in line with legislation passed during his time in office. He later served slightly more than one term in the United States Senate, from 1885 until his death in 1893 at age 69. He served for four years as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and his legislative focus included core Populist elements worker cooperatives as a solution to labor conflict, and free silver to enhance economic growth.

Stanford University

With wife Jane, Stanford founded Leland Stanford Junior University as a memorial for their only child, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died as a teenager of typhoid in Florence, Italy while on a trip to Europe. Approximately US$20 million (US$400 million in 2005 dollars) initially went into the university, which held its opening exercises October 1, 1891. The wealth of the Stanford family during the late nineteenth century is estimated at approximately US$50 million ($US1 billion in 2005 dollars).